lighting is something I have put to the side for some time. On the old layout I installed lights in between the bench work on every other brace. That put each light 32” apart. This worked quite well however required a lot of light bulbs. Also their was no great secure way of terminating wire connections with the outdoor flood light lamp holders I was using. I wasn’t happy with the set up that I had crafted and was sure their was a better safer cleaner Method of installation. After some searching I came across lamp sockets. These cleaned up my install, the sockets have screw terminals to attach wires. My method of install for these is to install the same as before every 32” by drilling a 3/8 hole in the bench work and wedge the base of the socket into it. The wiring is 18g lamp cord 25’ at the store is 7$. From the socket the wire is ran to a junction box connecting upper and lower deck light in that location. I was pleased with this set up for lighting the layout and the ease of installation. The cost per light is low .63 for socket and 7$ for 25’ of cord.
Still I wanted to try another option.
In my studies for lighting I found some who are useing LED light strips. I purchased some RGB SMD 5050 LED’s to try for myself and was greatly disappointed. I tryed one, two, three strips overhead, and never seemed even close to being bright enough or the correct tone of light. I abandoned the idea. I was unable to achieve the results they did. The lighting color was likely the RGB lights supplying a cool white, but the quantity of LED strips to achieve a quality light would be out of budget Also mounting the led strips seemed a bit of an adventure and another added expense for LED light strips.
C R I
COLOR RENDERING INDEX.
What I learned so far is LED light strips wont work for me and that light bulbs have a CRI. That changes things. LED bulbs with a CRI of 90+ are not the ones you can pick up 10 for $10 and I need a lot of lights bulbs. To be sure the CRI 90+ bulb would be worth the money I purchased enough to light a 16' section.
I was able to get my hands on these in 5000K from Menards. It was a toss up between 5000K and 3500K. The coloring is what I wanted and was pleased with my study plan for lighting.
The upper deck is 18" wide and has a upper valence to hold lighting that's 12" wide. That posed a problem for the upper deck lighting. Everything on the outside edge has a odd shadow. I knew the only way to get rid of the shadow would be to install some ceiling flood lighting. That fixed the problem and after installing the flood lights I realized their was no need for the lighting I had installed to light the upper deck in the first place. I will have to install them for the lower level.
Overhead floodlight has been completed
